House hunting headache

Ugh, this is not easy! Three times so far we’ve been interested in a place only to have it sell the next day, once even before we got to see it (saw pics online and had an appt to see it tonight, but it’s under contract as of today). I knew better than to fall in love with something that wasn’t ours yet, but I didn’t know I’d fall in “like” only to be shut down this many times. Oh well, on to the next one, I suppose.

Laurenplusalex: Oh girl, I’m sorry! That SUCKS SO MUCH! Try not to let it get you too down! The key is to be FAST. (Which is easier said than done when it always feels like someone is a step ahead of you!)

We’re not quite house hunting yet, because we are finishing up a few repairs (hubby is doing one today actually) before we can list it, but I’m SO afraid of falling in crazy love with a house & then losing it to another buyer! I’m seriously dreading that, because if we decide to go with a pre-existing home I just KNOW it’s going to happen 🙁

Tonight we have a meeting with a local company who builds homes. We’re going to look at a model home because for the price, we could have one built all new, which would get a better interest rate than a pre-existing one, plus a few more “perks”. The cheapest house they build is at the TOP of our budget though, but if we like it we’ll just go that route, which would be great because we won’t have to fight other buyers for it. The downside to building is WAITING for it to be built & moving in. Living in a hotel or apartment for 6+ months would not be fun!

okqueenbee: this latest place was on the market since Sunday, and I work Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights, so unfortunately today was the earliest we could see it. I’m a bit disappointed, but as close as it was to family, it was really far from work for both of us.

We’re looking for a rental in a new neighborhood, which is really annoying, as everything in our price range seems to be a dump or doesn’t allow dogs. I’m starting grad school at the same school FI attends law school at, and it just doesn’t make sense to both drive/take public transportation from where we currently live, plus it’s a lot cheaper out by the school. Not only is apartment hunting a pain, but FI is NO help because he doesn’t want to move. Which I totally understand, because we LOVE our current neighborhood, but it just doesn’t make logistical or financial sense and he’s unwilling to admit that. UGH.

We are looking to move closer to jobs/internships/potential future jobs. Both of us commuting an hour to the same darn place makes no sense. But it’s become a pain in the butt. FILs think we should still look at the place that has an offer on it. Um, why? So we can see something we can’t have? I vote move on and see something we’d be able to buy.

annb9: well, we both live at home now, so moving is necessary. Not easy, but it has to happen before the wedding

Laurenplusalex: I feel your headache. We started house hunting in February. The first one we went to we loved it. This one had been on the market for a little bit and actually had been listed multiple times. We asked our realtor what it would cost to heat/cool/water/utilities, etc. the house since we wanted to see what it was like compared to our rental living. Within an hour of seeing it, it was under contract.

So we continued our search looking at homes and found another one we loved, but it was way overpriced and the sellers wouldn’t come down. Then we found another we loved on a Thursday evening. Friday morning we put in an offer and that afternoon our realtor told us multiple offers were on the table, so we backed out not wanting to be in a bidding war. We looked at other houses that weekend and fell in love with another. We finally won that one!

Our realtor was telling us that this is not the time to be thinking about things, it is if you love it, go for it! I’m so glad we lucked out and are closing on our first home next week!!

Laurenplusalex: Oh yes I feel ya lady! We just got through buying a house that is new contruction because we couldnt find what we wanted/needed for the money either. We did not want to start our lives together with a TON of renovation projects…we went out to an area slightly further out from the city and bought new for less than the homes we were looking at oriignally. I am a teacher and I moonlight as a realtor also..lol. I have worked with clients before that were having the same thing happen, losing out on homes before they could view them, so we started writing offers sight unseen. and then once we had an offer accepted or in the process of, we would go look. Buyers (in CA) and I think in every state as far as I am aware, have 3 days to pull an accpeted offer…so maybe talk to your agent about doing this, it might work for ya:)

I feel for you! I’m so glad we got in when we did, last year there wasn’t a bunch of inventory on the market, but it wasn’t too bad.

This year, bidding wars are starting to be more common and prices are at an all time high now, beating the 2007 boom.

One thing to check is make sure that you are seeing everything that’s out there. Around here, many of the realtor’s search sites only show houses that are listed by a realtor, if they are FSBO or comfree they don’t even show up in the searches! You don’t want to rule things out that way when things are being snatched up quickly.

Laurenplusalex: You are preaching to the choir!! I am about ready to give up, everything I find is either sold, too expensive, too far away, not quite what we’re looking for, too old….agh We are looking into buying the place we rent now and making some renovations, so we can stay there for another 2-3 years before looking again……. NIGHTMARE!!!

I feel ya. We were in the full swing of selling and then buying a house this time last year.

The selling house went on the market for just 2 days and had 30+ showings and 6 offers. Just 2 days!

And then when buying a home, we had several sold out from under us before we could put together an offer or even go see it in person. We even made an offer sight-unseen (we were going to withdraw if we visited and didn’t like it) trying to get ahead of the curve and we were still out-offered by someone who offered more than we did, in all cash. It was nuts.

After a while of our realtor saying “I have a free afternoon on Thursday, can you see it then?” on like a Monday, I had to have a sit-down with her and say, “No, these houses are going SO fast, I need you to either get me in to look at these houses within 24 hours or I need to find a less busy realtor.” Maybe it was harsh, but there were some houses I loved that I had to sit and watch get sold.

After all is said and done, I love the house we ended up with more than any of the lost ones. Sure they had some features I would have liked, but as a whole I like our current home best (and it was one of the cheapest, in the best area). It’ll all work out 🙂

Laurenplusalex: We had a terrible time house hunting. It was three + years ago, but we had the same experience, seeing a house on the market, making an appt to see it, and then it was under contract.

Our realtor found out about a house that would be coming on the market, and drove us by it, and we said we wanted to be the first ones to see it. We loved it and made an offer immediately, and got our beautiful home.

I hope you will have the same good luck!! It sure is a hard process, but you have to believe the RIGHT home is out there. Hang in there!!